A Not so Secret Garden: English Roses, Victorian Aestheticism and the Making of Social Identities

• Autor(a) principal: Ramos, Iolanda
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.34632/gaudiumsciendi.2015.2768

The English rose has a long tradition in Britain as a national symbol, largely for being a metaphor applied to a woman who has a natural beauty and a strong character. In the Victorian age, the language of flowers conveyed an acknowledged social and moral code, and floral symbolism was widely used in the arts. In a time ruled by industrialisation, the Ruskinian "go to Nature" precept inspired not only Pre-Raphaelite aestheticism but ordinary women who longed to turn their home into a paradise as well as a garden, where they could play the part of angel and queen. Thus, a neo-Victorian perspective can reinterpret this idealisation of social roles as being close to identities with a subversive potential for giving a voice to those who could not otherwise make themselves heard. In sum, floral representations, both in the literal and the figurative sense, contribute to a better understanding of Victorian and contemporary British culture. This essay therefore aims to link gender and identity questions with cultural history.